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Written Question
Falcons
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the peregrine falcon population in England of the theft of peregrine falcon eggs for sale of chicks to the Middle East.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Defra has not made any assessment of the impact of peregrine falcon egg theft on the peregrine population.

The Government does, however, take all wildlife crime seriously, including the theft of wild bird eggs, which is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

In 2022 Defra more than doubled its funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit from a total of £495,000 over the three previous years to £1.2 million for the three-year period of 2022-25 to target wildlife crime priorities, in particular crimes against birds of prey, which is a national wildlife crime priority.

Defra supports the work of the Bird of Prey Crime Priority Delivery Group, and that of the CITES Priority Delivery Groups, which bring together police, government and stakeholders from conservation organisations to tackle this type of persecution. In addition, we are providing funding to Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) to develop DNA forensic analysis for the police and other organisations investigating crimes against peregrine falcons.

Additionally, the UK is an active member of the Intergovernmental Task Force on the Illegal Killing, Taking and Trade of Migratory Birds in the Mediterranean (MIKT). The MIKT facilitates international cooperation to tackle bird crime, including the illegal persecution and taking of raptors.


Written Question
Angling: Licensing
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many successful prosecutions by the Environment Agency there were for fishing without a licence in England in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, (4) 2022, and (5) 2023.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In addition to prosecution, the Environment Agency will use other enforcement outcomes that include formal cautions, warning letters and issuing advice and guidance. The table below provides the numbers of these used alongside prosecutions between 2019 to 2023.

Final Action Taken

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Grand Total

Advice and Guidance Total

261

59

167

114

78

679

Caution Total

113

25

254

573

1176

2141

Warning Letter Total

182

102

238

1447

338

2307

Prosecutions (Successful) Total

1876

464

728

379

250

3697

Grand Total

2432

650

1387

2513

1842

8824

The total number of successful prosecutions is higher (+498) than the table above if you include fisheries byelaw offences such as fishing in the close season. Please see the table below for all prosecutions and enforcement actions.

Final Action Taken

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Grand Total

Advice and Guidance

269

62

167

116

79

693

Caution

123

29

276

579

1185

2192

Warning Letter

191

110

265

1461

362

2389

Prosecutions (Successful)

2057

494

818

483

343

4195

Grand Total

2640

695

1526

2639

1969

9469


Written Question
Dutch Elm Disease
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the efficacy of sanitary felling in slowing the spread of Dutch elm disease.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Dutch Elm Disease is a highly destructive vascular wilt disease of several species of elm. We do not take statutory action against Dutch Elm Disease as it is widespread across most of Great Britain. There is no effective cure available for Dutch Elm Disease, but early sanitation felling, or removal of infected trees and branches, can slow the spread of the disease.

There is evidence that sanitation felling was used as a control method in the 1970s in specific areas such as Brighton and Hove which now houses the National Elm Collection, a well curated collection of hundreds of trees, containing cultivars of both susceptible and resistant species. Annual losses during this decade were variable but overall considered to be lower than areas where measures such as sanitation felling were not in place.

No official and specific assessment has been made on efficacy as local authorities make their own decisions on implementing control measures. However, local authorities such as Brighton with significant healthy elm populations that may still be implementing these enhanced control methods could hold more information on the use of sanitation felling at a local level.

Defra is currently prioritising investment in scientific research which aims to develop a more resistant and diverse elm population, to support the return of mature elms to the landscape nationwide. This includes mapping and gathering data on resistant elms across Great Britain, surveying their genomic diversity, evaluating the durability of disease resistant cultivars and establishing the current distribution of the two vector beetle species. Defra is also funding work with the John Innes Centre who are undertaking inoculation trials and propagating the most tolerant trees to establish new seed orchards with enhanced resistance to Dutch Elm Disease.


Written Question
Hill Farming: Environmental Land Management Schemes
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what further steps they plan to take to support and protect upland and hill farmers to offset any loss of income they face under the new environmental land management schemes.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Upland farmers play a vital role in managing some of our most important and iconic landscapes, which are valued and recognised by the public. In addition to farming, the management of upland landscapes can provide many environmental benefits and ecosystem services, including clean air and water, carbon sequestration and flood risk management.

Upland farmers are well placed to benefit from our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which are designed to maintain sustainable, productive land which delivers for both farmers and the environment.

The schemes under ELM have been designed to be as accessible and attractive to as wide a range of farmers as possible. We continue to work closely with a range of environmental and agricultural stakeholders to collaboratively design our new approaches to ensure they are fit for purpose.

Support for small farmers, including upland farmers, includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Management Payment. At the recent National Farmers Union Conference, the Prime Minister announced that this payment will be doubled to a maximum of £2000 per year. At the Conference the Prime Minister also announced the biggest ever package of grants this year, to boost productivity and resilience, which will total £220 million. Upland farmers will be eligible to benefit from this, through increases to the Improving Farming Productivity scheme and the Farming Equipment and Technology fund. And the Prime Minister announced that the Government is also increasing funding for grassroots mental health support, because we know what a tough job farming is; and providing funding to support food producers by redirecting surplus food into the hands of those who need it.

This builds on support already in place for upland farmers. Upland farmers can get paid for over 130 relevant actions under Countryside Stewardship and the SFI from 2024. This will include new moorland and upland peat actions, with considerably higher payments for moorlands in good environmental condition. They can also extend their Higher Level Stewardship agreements for five years if they have one that can run alongside any Countryside Stewardship or SFI agreement they have, allowing them to get paid for more actions and take advantage of recent price increases. And they can apply for Countryside Stewardship Wildlife Offers for a range of management options that focus on providing habitats for farm wildlife.

Upland farmers in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or National Parks can apply for the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, which funds farmers to support nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage, or protect or improve the quality and character of the landscape or place. And upland farmers can continue to benefit from the Landscape Recovery scheme, creating the landscape scale and tailored environmental land management change we need for our targets. So far 56 successful projects have been selected for Rounds 1 and 2 of Landscape Recovery, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to funding that delivers environmental benefits in harmony with food production. Defra will open a third round of Landscape Recovery in 2024.


Written Question
Livestock Worrying: Fines
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the financial penalty for the crime of livestock worrying by dogs to ensure there is a serious deterrent for dog owners.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government takes the issue of livestock worrying very seriously, recognising the distress this can cause animals and their keepers. The Government is supporting a Private Members’ Bill to amend the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953. The Bill will improve police powers to enable the police to respond to livestock worrying incidents more effectively and to act as a deterrent.

Livestock worrying is principally a crime of negligence, not of intent. Those found guilty of committing an offence face a penalty of a maximum fine of £1,000. The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill will maintain this maximum penalty.


Written Question
Fly-tipping: Fines
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing the fixed-penalty fine for fly-tipping to a maximum of £2,000.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under the Prime Minister’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan, the Government recently raised the upper limit on the fixed penalty notices councils can issue to £1,000 for fly-tipping and £600 for householders who pass their waste to an unlicensed waste carrier. This reflects the increased severity with which the Government views these crimes and allows councils to take tougher action against fly-tippers.

We will continue to work with local authorities to assess the impacts of these changes. There are no plans to increase the fixed penalty levels further at this time.

Local authorities also have powers to stop, search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers and to prosecute offenders, which can lead to an unlimited fine or imprisonment if convicted in court.


Written Question
Ash Dieback Disease
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of ash trees infected with the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in the year 2023.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government does not collect data on the number of individual ash trees that have become infected with ash dieback, but the disease is now present in all counties and is predicted to kill over 100 million trees in the UK. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is spread via spores which can spread for considerable distances in the wind before infecting another ash tree. This means it is not possible to limit the spread of the disease. Some local authorities conduct annual surveys of ash trees to track local spread and decline and inform their management strategies.

In most areas, a majority of ash trees are now expected to be infected, but the response of individual ash trees to infection is highly variable. The most susceptible trees often die within a few years and the most resistant trees may show little damage and sometimes signs of recovery between years. The severity and impact of the disease at a local level also varies by tree age and condition, climate, the presence of secondary pathogens and other environmental factors.

From observations in Europe and the UK, we expect a minimum of 1-5% of ash trees to be naturally resistant to the disease. Resistance is heritable which offers hope for a future breeding programme and Defra is investing in R&D to support this.


Written Question
Domestic Waste: Waste Management
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to encourage local councils to replicate the 'mega skip' days run by Wandsworth Council to reduce incidences of fly-tipping.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Across two rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme we have awarded nearly £1.2m to help councils across the country introduce interventions to tackle fly-tipping hotspots. Successful projects have included community or ‘waste amnesty’ days. A selection of case studies from completed projects are available online so that others can learn about those interventions which were most successful. These can be found at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/fly-tipping-intervention-grant-scheme.

We are currently reviewing applications for a further round of grants, which could see an additional £1m handed out in the spring to help even more councils tackle the issue.


Written Question
Domestic Waste: Waste Management
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many household waste and recycling centres have closed since January 2023 because of budgetary constraints of local authorities.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government does not have detailed information on decisions behind local authority service implementation. Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are an important service to help ensure residents can dispose of waste in a responsible manner and we encourage local authorities to ensure appropriate provisions are made.


Written Question
Domestic Waste: Waste Management
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of household waste and recycling centre closures on incidences of fly-tipping.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have previously commissioned research into the drivers, deterrents and impacts of fly-tipping that suggested any friction in the system relating to the use of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), which have negative impacts on cost or convenience, can act as provocations for normally law-abiding people or businesses to fly-tip or give their waste to someone who goes on to fly-tip. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires waste disposal authorities to provide places for residents to deposit household waste. It is a Local Authority responsibility to manage suitable availability.